Rural England Prosperity Fund
The Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) funds capital projects for small businesses and community infrastructure in rural areas.
Specifically, the fund aims to support:
- new and existing rural businesses to develop new products and facilities that will be of wider benefit the local economy (this includes farm businesses looking to diversify income streams)
- new and improved community infrastructure, providing essential community services and assets for local people and businesses to benefit the local economy
To date, we have received £400,000 from the REPF to deliver projects across 2023-24 and 2024-25. You can find information about previous projects we have funded elsewhere on this page.
The government have confirmed that we will receive a further £120,261 to allocate to projects in 2025-26.
The REPF grant scheme is now closed to applications, and we are reviewing the applications. The Community Funding Panel will assess the applications and make appropriate recommendations to allocate the funding. We will notify applicants of the outcome by September 2025.
If we still have funds after the initial allocation, we may reopen the grant scheme later in the year for a second round of applications.
If you have any questions about the Rural England Prosperity Fund or the application process, you can contact the Economic Development Team.
You can also find information about other grants we offer.
In total, we have funded 29 projects, including:
- a heritage centre, to improve the infrastructure of the building and achieve energy savings
- a community-owned pub, to install a new commercial kitchen
- a riding school, who provides riding sessions for disabled children and adults, enabling them to buy a new horse box
- a scout club, to upgrade their site and security
- a parish council, to install a new mini basketball court
- a food manufacturing company, which bought a range of equipment to help them produce and distribute their product to national retailers
- a farm, which bought car park matting and a gazebo, so they can operate their sunflower picking throughout the summer season and welcome an increased number of visitors
- a vineyard, which bought new barrels to enable production of wine for export
- a football club, which used the funding to resurface its access track
- two allotment sites, which bought compost toilets
- a parish council, to install a new surface for its tennis courts